Pre-Socratic Philosophers: From Thales to the Atomists
The Ionian School
The first school of philosophy is the Ionian school, named because it originated in the region of Ionia. The capital was Miletus. The Ionians were the first philosophers of ancient Greece.
Thales of Miletus
Thales of Miletus was a great sage known for Thales’ theorem. The Ionian school sought the Arkhe, which means “beginning”—the root of words like “archaic” and “archeology.” They understood it as the foundation of physis, meaning “nature.” They sought the foundation or principle of nature, understanding it as something alive, unlike the modern view that nature also includes inert things. Thales made the following statement: “The principle of nature is water.” Where there is water, there is life. This thinking is called monism, reducing the diversity of things to a single element. It’s a rational approach: What is the common source of all things? Water naturally explains living things and explains nature through something internal to it.
Anaximander
Anaximander proposed Apeiron, an unknown material substance, as the Arkhe. It was a vague concept, like a potter making objects from clay.
Anaximenes
Anaximenes believed the Arkhe was air. This relates to the ancient concept of the four elements: air, water, earth, and fire.
The Pythagoreans
The Pythagoreans were based in Sicily and Southern Italy. Their leader was Pythagoras. Their beliefs were very different from the Ionians and were often seen as evil, leading to persecution and even execution. Their philosophy had many oriental influences and favored asceticism: practices that are unpleasant, with the idea of mastering the body so that the soul is above it. Examples include fasting, self-harm, and sleep deprivation.
Pythagorean Ideas
- Soul: The soul was seen as an immortal spirit dwelling in people. They believed in reincarnation: good behavior led to reincarnation as a good person, while bad behavior led to reincarnation as a lesser being, like a rat.
- Dualism: The belief that there are two principles, one good and one evil. Everything was classified accordingly: day and night, man and woman, etc. An important duality was body and soul (material vs. spiritual), where the body was seen as bad and the soul as good. Another was the duality of senses (bad) and reason (good).
- Rationalism: The Pythagoreans were rationalists, only interested in what is rational.
- Arkhe – Number: They believed the principle and foundation of things is the number, numerical and mathematical relationships. They saw mathematics as a form of spiritual asceticism, a preparation and purification of the soul. They were the first to apply mathematics to the study of nature, particularly acoustics and music. Music was seen as a product of harmony, where notes sounded good together. They used integers and rational numbers (ratios of integers). However, the Pythagorean theorem led to the discovery of the square root of 2, an irrational number.
Heraclitus
Probably Heraclitus’ most famous piece consists of two words: Panta Rhei. “Panta” means “all things,” and “Rhei” means “flows.” Everything flows, changes, and becomes. He also said that we cannot step into the same river twice. Heraclitus compares the situation with the waters of a river that are constantly flowing. This is Heraclitus’ view of things: nothing is still, nothing is permanent, but everything is in constant motion. “This world, the same for all, has not been made by any god nor man, but has been, is, and always will be an eternal fire that lights off either as a measure by measure.” Explanation: “World” refers to the Greek word “Kosmos,” which refers to the whole. Another important word related to “Kosmos” is “Logos,” which means “word.” It also means “speech” and especially “reason.” Reason is a Latin word that meant “proportion.” Words without reason are useless. A word expresses reason. It came to mean the universal reason, that is, the law of nature. Monism: the world is unique, has not been made by any god nor man, but is an eternal fire that acts according to reason, logos. Fire is an eternal image, a representation of logos. This is the only world, and it has a universal law that is in the fire. This fire does two things: it creates and destroys. In short, fire means life, vitality, creation, and destruction. This is the logos, the nature of natural law: creating and destroying things, birth and death.
Parmenides
Parmenides distinguished between truth and opinion (doxa). Doxa is knowledge based on the senses. For example, “it is sunny.” Anything we know through the senses is doxa. Truth is not based on the senses but on reason; it is purely rational. The senses tell us that things are constantly changing, which is not always and everywhere true. For Parmenides, truth has to be eternal and universal. This is not empirical; it is a purely rational statement: it is true here and everywhere, has always been, is today, and always will be. Parmenides wants this kind of truth: universal truth, forever and everywhere. Knowledge based on the senses is unimportant, a second category. Parmenides starts from a logical and tautological nature that is axiomatic. A tautology is a proposition that is true in all its interpretations and cannot be denied. An axiom is a starting point in an argument. He was interested in the notion of perfection associated with God: unique, homogeneous, full, etc. The best example to understand all these features is God.
Zeno of Elea
Zeno of Elea was a disciple of Parmenides and had paradoxes to prove that what his teacher said was true.
Pluralists
Empedocles
Empedocles said that everything was made up of four elements (no longer monist, but pluralist): earth, water, air, and fire. Everything in nature is a combination of these elements. There were two forces: love and hate. Love pushed elements to mix and create a variety of things. Hate separated elements, decreasing the diversity of things.
Atomists
The Atomists believed that nature was formed by atoms. “Atom” comes from “a” (no) and “tom” (part), meaning “without parts,” indivisible. It is a very small particle of matter that is the basic element of all material things in the world. Properties of atoms: they move. They did not need to explain movement because it was a basic property that explained everything.